Chapter 705 – Returning Home
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Lin Ming quickly glanced over at everyone. Although a large majority of the Divine Phoenix Island’s disciples had died in battle, those who had survived were mostly the best of the elites. With these forces, it wouldn’t take too many years for Divine Phoenix Island to restore itself to its former glory. With Lin Ming supporting them, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to even become a fifth-grade sect.
“Lin Ming? Divine Kingdom Crown Prince, hm? Hahaha!” a raucous laugh sounded out. Lin Ming turned around to see that the one crazily laughing was Zhang Zhen, the first friend Lin Ming had made after entering Divine Phoenix Island.
“Zhang Zhen!” Seeing so many familiar faces, Lin Ming’s heart was filled with a nostalgic emotion. He walked forward and patted Zhang Zhen’s shoulder.
“There’s also Senior-apprentice Brother Dingshan, Senior-apprentice Sister Xiaoqing, Senior Master Qingyi… ”
Lin Ming called out a few names. Mu Dingshan and Mu Xiaoqing were the chief disciples of the generation following Mu Qianyu. They had attended Revered Master Tianguang’s birthday festival with Lin Ming and their performance had been quite adequate. As for Mu Qingyi, she was the Blue Luan Faction Elder who had often looked after Lin Ming and helped him in the Demon God Imperial Palace.
To meet with familiar people after a period of separation was peculiar. Even though it had only been two to three years, after having been separated by a great catastrophe, it was as if they had been worlds apart, leaving him with a sense of infinite sadness and wistfulness.
Lin Ming spoke with these old friends and seniors, catching up on various matters. Then, he walked over to Mu Qianyu and the others’ side, passing her a bunch of fire-attribute medicinal herbs.
“Yu’er, this is for Little Flame and Fireshine. It should be enough to help them recover some of the essence energy they've lost.”
“Mm.”
Mu Qianyu took the herbs, her eyes wet. Little Flame was a very smart and intelligent creature; it was well aware of cause and effect, and just what had happened and why. Still, Little Flame had never blamed Mu Qianyu a single bit. This had made her feel even guiltier.
Lin Ming laid down a sound-isolating enchantment and then took out a square jade box from his spatial ring. He opened it, revealing the crystal-clear black-colored beads inside it. There were some as large as fists, and some as small as pigeon eggs.
Seeing this jade box filled with black beads, Mu Yuhuang, Mu Fengxian, and the others' hearts skipped a beat. They could feel an incomparably pure, tyrannical power emanating from these beads. Compared to it, any sort of top-grade true essence stone was nothing but absolute garbage!
In fact, they could even feel faint fluctuations of life from these black beads. It was as if these black beads each contained the remnant soul of a peerless powerhouse.
“Lin Ming… What are these?” Mu Yuhuang found it difficult to stay calm. The value of these treasures had completely surpassed her scope of understanding.
“Sect Master, these are Demon God Bones. After a powerhouse dies, if the leftover energy field doesn’t disperse, it will condense into an energy crystal after tens or hundreds of thousands of years. The Demon God Bone can be used to increase one’s cultivation. The ones with slightly weaker energy fluctuations are human-step Demon God Bones. They can be used for mid and late Revolving Core powerhouses to increase their cultivation. As for the ones with stronger energy fluctuations, those are earth-step Demon God Bones. They can be used for a Life Destruction powerhouse to step into the Divine Sea.
As Lin Ming spoke these words, Mu Yuhuang and the others were frightened silly. A heavenly treasure that could be used for a Life Destruction powerhouse to attack the Divine Sea bottleneck… This was truly priceless.
One could tell just from looking at the costs that the various great powers had expended to compete for the Nirvana Dragon Root.
But from the fluctuations of energy from this box of Demon God Bones that Lin Ming had opened, their value was probably above that of two complete Nirvana Dragon Roots!
This was obvious. After all, the Nirvana Dragon Root was a medicinal herb bred within the ruins of a sixth-grade sect. As for the Demon God Bones, these had taken existence in the 1000-mile forbidden zone of the mystical and strange Eternal Demon Abyss. Compared to the Eternal Demon Abyss, the ancient ruins of the Demon God Imperial Palace were simply insignificant.
Mu Yuhuang had no doubt that if any of the powers within the entire southern Sky Spill Continent were to know of these Demon God Bones, then that would start a massive and bloody war of terrifying proportions. Perhaps, even Holy Lands would partake in this struggle!
Lin Ming, are you giving these to us? What about you?” Mu Yuhuang didn’t ask where Lin Ming had gotten these Demon God Bones. She only felt that perhaps they were being wasted on them.
Lin Ming smiled faintly, “Sect Master, in truth, I have even better ones.”
Demon God Bones couldn’t be used without restriction or end. Otherwise, it would inevitably lead to instability in one’s foundation. If Lin Ming had to use one, he would naturally use the best. As for the ordinary human-step and earth-step Demon God Bones, these could best be used by Mu Qianyu and the others.
“You have even better ones!?”
After Mu Yuhuang, Mu Fengxian, and the others heard these words, they were simply speechless. They had no idea what to say to express their feelings right then.
The items within this jade box were already the most precious heavenly treasures that they had seen in their lives. But, listening to Lin Ming’s words, it seemed they weren’t of any use to him…
Just what sort of lucky chance had Lin Ming encountered?
Without a doubt, the greater a lucky chance was, the greater the corresponding dangers. In order to obtain these treasures, just what sort of wild and crazy situations had Lin Ming gone through?
Mu Yuhuang and the others were simply unable to imagine this. The vast ocean allowed fish to swim and the endless skies allowed birds to fly. Whatever future boundary Lin Ming could reach… That was already beyond any guesses they could make.
Lin Ming passed around the Demon God Bones. Mu Qianyu, Mu Bingyun, and Mu Yuhuang received Demon God Bones appropriate to their cultivation and potential. As for Mu Fengxian, because of her old age, she would mainly use these for supplementing the fires of her life and extending her lifespan. Thus, she had received a human-step Demon God Bone.
“Thank you.” After Mu Bingyun received a Demon God Bone, she looked deeply at Lin Ming. She had never imagined that she would also receive one. “Lin Ming, thank you for saving Little Blue and thank you for everything you’ve done for Divine Phoenix Island,” Mu Bingyun said through a true essence sound transmission.
Little Blue was Mu Bingyun’s life’s Blue Luan. If it hadn't been for Lin Ming's arrival, then Little Blue would have ended up in the same situation as Little Flame, captured by Yin Yang Profound Palace.
For this, she was especially grateful to Lin Ming.
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Three days later, in a normal and modest mortal country of the Five Element Region, in a small and remote town…
On this day, a pair of strange visitors had come to this small town. A handsome youngster wearing blue robes stepped in, accompanied by a beautiful red-dressed woman. To the common people of this mortal town, these two people looked as if they had jumped out of a fairy tale book.
This young man and the young woman were Lin Ming and Mu Qianyu.
“It’s here,” Mu Qianyu said in a gentle tone.
“Mm… ”
Lin Ming looked at an ordinary small restaurant in front of him. The red lacquered pillars, the latticed wooden windows, the tilted roof, all of it revealed a familiar flavor. Looking up, he saw a black sign hung at the top. A few words were written on it – Lin Family Restaurant.
At this moment, Lin Ming felt his mind shake. He was inexplicably held in place, his mind flying back to five years ago when he still lived in Green Mulberry City.
He had passed his childhood years in such a restaurant in Green Mulberry City.
Blue stones, simmering tea, the tapping of an abacus, friendly guests, nodding waiters, aged wine…
Lin Ming didn’t say anything in the end. He quietly walked into the restaurant, whereupon he saw a little girl with braided hair bouncing at the entrance. She wore a comfortable and well-crafted red jacket, and there was a stick of sugar-coated candy in her hands. Her eyes were wide as she curiously looked at Lin Ming.
Perhaps because she had grown up in this small restaurant and was used to guests, this little girl was not shy. She bit down on her sugared candy while she stared with blinking eyes at Lin Ming and Mu Qianyu. Although she didn’t know who Lin Ming was, Mu Qianyu seemed to be a tad familiar to her, although she couldn’t recall just where she had seen her.
At this time, perhaps because of a deep throbbing connection in the depths of his bloodline, Lin Ming recognized this three-to-four-year-old little girl. This child was his sister, that little pigeon – Lin Xiaoge.
Then, Lin Ming saw a beautiful woman in her early twenties gently holding onto the hands of a middle-aged woman as they slowly came down from the second floor. Behind them was a middle-aged man wearing a hat. In his hand he held a shiny new abacus and a book, as if he was preparing to assess the day’s sales.
In that instant, Lin Ming eyes became wet with emotion.
Father… mother… and Qin Xingxuan…
For some reason, a strong melancholic pain surged in his heart.
Those who walked the path of martial arts were doomed to loneliness. No one would be able to keep up with his footsteps.
Parents, family, friends, lovers… The stronger he became, the greater the distance between them…
Lin Ming felt an inexplicable pain resonating in his heart. He knelt down, his knees hitting the floor.
“Father, mother… Your child has returned… ”
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After Lin Ming returned home, The Lin Family Restaurant closed down. These days, Lin Ming lived in a room his parents had especially prepared for him, enjoying rare days of quiet tranquility.
Lin Ming’s parents and Lin Ming himself were excellent chefs. Even Qin Xingxuan had learned a great deal about cooking after following Lin Ming’s parents the past few days. Only Mu Qianyu didn’t know anything. This caused her a great deal of embarrassment. She only understood few of the common mortal customs. Considering her special relationship with Lin Ming, if she didn’t help prepare food and only allowed Lin Ming and his parents to do it, then that was extremely rude.
After quickly learning some cooking techniques from Lin Ming, given Mu Qianyu’s intelligence, she was quickly able to prepare delicious meals.
During the first one or two days, because Lin Ming’s parents were from a normal mortal background, they were somewhat cautious of Mu Qianyu. After they slowly familiarized themselves with each other, they naturally relaxed and the relations between everyone grew much more harmonious, relaxed, and happy.
In the days when Lin Ming wasn’t there, his parents had already recognized Qin Xingxuan as their daughter-in-law. To Lin Ming’s parents, Qin Xingxuan was already his wife.
At that time, within Qin Xingxuan’s room, Lin Ming took out a jade box.
“Xingxuan, this is for you.”
Qin Xingxuan’s cultivation was at the Houtian realm. After absorbing 10 drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence, her bloodline talent even surpassed that of Mu Dingshan and Mu Xiaoqing. In addition, she had practiced the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ and the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’ the past few years, and her foundations were remarkably solid. Although her talent was not yet at the Saint level, she had already swiftly surpassed geniuses like the Sunfire Princess and Zhan Yunjian.
Within the jade box, there were all sorts of heavenly treasures ranging from low to high level, even Demon God Bones. As long as Qin Xingxuan used them step-by-step, she would be able to breakthrough to Xiantian by 22-23 years of age and then to Revolving Core by 30 years of age. She would basically Mu Qianyu's level.
However, looking at all these valuable and precious heavenly treasures, Qin Xingxuan didn’t smile or seem happy at all. Instead, she only lowered her head. Lin Ming was unsure about what she was thinking.